Sylvie as Mediator

A fun anecdote from day care, via the weekly newsletter:

Chester Fair(e)

We headed down to Chester, CT to visit Sylvie's friends Sydney and Alex Liggett and their folks, and to attend the annual Chester Fair with them.  Focused readers will recall the Easter Egg Hunt we attended with the Liggetts, also in Chester, back in April.  That's a cool little town - lots going on.

Syl had a great time with her pals, riding rides, petting animals, and then playing around the house.  Great time - thanks Sydney, Alex, Jeff and Allison!

Enjoy the photos below.  More in the August 2010 Gallery.

Sylvie Rose and the Life Aquatic

I can remember (really) as a child having  hard time with the notion of dunking my head under the water.  Sylvie apparently has no such issues.  In the bath tonight, she abruptly turned and touched her nose to the bottom of the tub, coming up a second later laughing hysterically.  Of course I grabbed the video camera...

Big Day (underpants!)

So last night Melissa rather casually said, "they want Sylvie to come to school in underpants tomorrow."  This came as more than a slight surprise to me.  Sylvie has gotten quite good at using the potty at home, but  up through last night she had spent not a single hour in underpants, never mind all day.  She was still a diaper girl, albeit one getting used to the potty.

But she is slated to move from the toddler room to preschool one next week, and apparently the one absolute prerequisite to doing so is underpants.  So, presumably with full understanding of the risks, Sylvie's teachers asked Melissa to send her to school today sans diaper.  I will admit to thinking they were nuts.

Turns out Sylvie rose to the occasion, making several visits to the school potty and never once having an accident.  She's now officially an underpants girl - and proud of it.

Maine Videos

Luckily for me, we got a rainy day today so Sylvie and I had some time to edit the videos from Maine.  The first is the full trip video, themed "taking turns" in homage to the over-riding lesson that both Syl and her pal Kay Taylor learned throughout the weekend o' fun.



And the second memorializes Daddy's First Lobster (at the young age of 37).

Happy Birthday Grampy!

Sylvie just treated Grampy Haley to a (long and looping) rendition of "Happy Birthday" over the computer.  He seemed as pleased with the song as he clearly was with the birthday lobster to which Grammy treated him...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMPY!

Lunch with Jake

Yesterday Syl went to Oak Grove to play with Jake and Madeline.  Then Madeline and her dad split off to go golfing (!!!), Syl's mom headed to Boston for some relaxation at a spa, and so Sylvie, Jake, Trystan and I swung by C&L Frosty for lunch and ice cream.  Jake was looking like quite the cool dude as he waited with his date for lunch.  One guess what Sylvie ordered...

And now, the narrative

Okay, I'm finally done with the Maine photos (haven't started on the video yet).  Although I've posted a lot of them, there are many more good ones.  All of them can be viewed in the Maine Summer 2010 Gallery by clicking here.  Dud and Jen, feel free to download full quality copies from the gallery.

This one appears in the slideshow below, but I just had to highlight it for shock value.  I ate this guy.  Well, his claws and half his tail, anyhow.  Turns out lobster tastes good.  The packaging still freaks me out though...


Here are some of my favorites that I have not already posted, that tell the tale of our excellent weekend in Maine with our very fine hosts, Dudley, Jen, Kay Taylor and Serafina Winthrop.  Thanks again, guys!

Our family, on the beach

On our second day, a real gem of a bright and sunny one, the Winthrops took us for a picnic lunch on a very beautiful little Maine beach.  "Maine beach" generally means "rocky beach," and this one was no exception.  It just so happens that rocks are Sylvie's very favorite thing to find on a beach - she never tires of throwing them in the water.  Syl and Kay Taylor had fun "swimming" in the chilly water.  I took advantage of the scenery to get some excellent shots of my girls, and Dudley was kind enough to get a few of the whole Haley family unit.  Melissa even took the camera and got some good ones too!

(This one is my favorite)

The Hat

The photos of Syl's "Abomable Snowman" hat that I posted earlier from my Blackberry seemed to be a big hit.  Unsurprisingly, I took a few with the camera too...  Syl spotted the hat on display in the front window of an art gallery.  When a knit hat comes with a little booklet about the "artist," you know you're about to seriously over-pay for headwear, by the way.

Most of these are taken in Rockland, while we waited for the ferry.  The ones where she's on a riding toy were taken in a truly excellent downtown toy store, where Syl was allowed to play freely with many toys (Dad almost impulse purchased one of the riding toys - it was very cool, but not (as Mom convinced him) practical.  The last couple are from the ferry.  At some point during the trip, Sylvie started to wave her hat around precariously close to the rail, and we convinced her to stow it for its own good.  We weren't about to lose our new "art" hat on the very first day...

I'm not usually one for scenery photos...

... at least since my muse was born.  But North Haven, Maine was just really, really beautiful.  The coast, the town, the beach - and the Winthrops' house and grounds.  All of it.

By the way, in case anyone didn't realize: you can close out the annoying banner ads that SLIDE puts at the bottom of the photo window by clicking on the small 'x' in the upper right corner of the banner.  It hides my captions!

See what I mean? 

Pals

As they did last winter in DC, Sylvie and Kay Taylor got along famously this weekend.  Oh sure, there was the occasional squabble over a toy - they seemed to share instigator duties in that regard - but nothing out of the ordinary for a couple of two-somethings.  And there was the obligatory argument about nothing (literally nothing - it started out of the blue, with no apparent subject matter) that went literally like this:

Sylvie: Yes.
Kay Taylor: No!
Sylvie: Yes!
Kay Taylor: No!
Sylvie: Yes yes yes!
Kay Taylor: No no no!
Sylvie: YES!
Kay Taylor: NO!
[this went on for a good two minutes, before Sylvie burst out crying and I interceded with...]
Me: Sylvie, what's the matter?
Sylvie: Kay Taylor say no!
Me: So what's the problem with that?
Sylvie: I say YES!
Me: Do you even know what you're arguing about?
Sylvie: ... I want go on boat now.

Mostly, though, these photos capture the nature of their cute little relationship.

Welcoming hug

Same fashion sense

Celebrating common PJs

Sharing breakfast al fresco

On a morning walk

Breakfast hug

So many rocks.  So little time.

Many more photos still to come...  Gotta go to bed!